Metal wheel and method of manufacturing the same



(No Model.)

B. P. LYNCH. METAL WHEEL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME. .No. 439,412.

Patented Oct. 28, 1890.

F252]. ovclbwx-x iTn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDIVARD P. LYNCH, OF DAVENPORT, IOIVA.

METAL WHEEL AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURING THE SAME.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 439,412, dated October 28, 1890.

Application filed November 29, 1889. Serial No. 331,856. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. LYNCH, of Davenport, in the county of Scott and State of Iowa,have invented certain Improvements in Metal \Vheels and the Method of Manufacturing the Same, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in those metal wheels which have their spokes seated in mortises and retained in place by frictional contact.

Ileretofore it has been found exceedingly difficult to insert the spokes into the mortises with sufficient tightness to insure their retention without fracturing or stretching the hub in so doing. To avoid this difficulty and at the same time avoid the expense and trouble which attend the common practice of upsetting the spokes to swell them out within their receiving-mortises, I provide a hub of malleable iron or like material with spoke-receiving mortises or sockets, the inner surfaces of which are formed with small ribs, corrugations, or roughened portions of such nature that they will give way or change form under the influence of the incoming spoke, and into each mortise thus formed I forcibly insert in an endwise direction the end of the spoke, which acts, like the tool known as a drift, to partially break down, modify, or obliterate the ribs or corrugations. The effect of thus introducing the spoke is to insure an intimate and firm contact between the outer surface of the spoke and the inner surface or wall of the mortise, the frictional contact between them being so great as to retain and hold the spoke firmly under all circumstances. It is to be observed that under my method of insertion the tightness of the fit is due to the yielding or breaking down of the surface of the mortise, or, in other words, principally to the adaptation of the mortise to the spoke i11- stead of enlarging the spoke to fill the mortise. As a matter of precaution, the hub or the sockets thereof may be confined by an external clamp during the spoke-setting operation, as described in my application of even date herewith; but this is not a necessary feature of my invention, and is not claimed herein.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of a hub in accordance with my present invention, one side of the same being shown in section on the line at m, Fig. 2, with a spoke in position therein. Fig. 2 is an end view of the same, a portion being shown in section on the line y y, Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the hub, made of tubular form, with a series of radial spoke-receiving sockets or necks a. The hub is ordinarily cast complete in one piece of iron, with the mortises or spoke-holes extending through from the outer ends of the necks to the central opening of the hub. If preferred, the sockets may be terminated before reaching the central opening of the hub; or, in other words, be closed at their nner ends, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 2. Each of the sockets has its inner surface provided with ribs, serrations, or indentations or otherwise roughened. This roughened surface is preferably formed with a series of ribs or corrugations a, extending lengthwise of the mortise.

I am aware that a hub-socket has been constructed with large and strong ribs or threads around its inner wall adapted to resist heavy strains and pressures and to retain their original shape during the operation of upsetting and diametrically enlarging a spoke within the socket to fill the same. Now, my ribbed or roughened surface differs from the old in that its ribs or raised portions are small and such as to present comparatively little strength or rigidity. In other words, my surfaces, instead of being adapted to resist change in form, are intentionally weakened oradapted to give way or flatten out under the influence of the spoke. In this regard a clear distinction is to be drawn between my system, in which the hub is modified by the insertion of the spoke, and other systems, in which the hub remains unchanged and the spoke alone is modified at the time of its introduction.

B. represents the spoke having in cross-section, essentially, the size and form of the mortise in which it is to be inserted. Each spoke is secured by forcing it endwise to its place in the socket. The parts are so proportioned that the spoke will be seated tightly in place. During its insertion it to some extent flattens out or obliterates the ribs on the interior of the socket. The result is an intimate union and a strong friction between the outer sur'- face of the spoke and the inner surface of the socket, and this without the application of pressure liable to fracture the hub. 7

The spoke may be inserted either by a steady pressure or by blows upon its end, and v the pressure or the blows may be continued, if desired, in special cases to upset or enlarge the spoke within the mortise in the event of its having failed to completely fill the same. It is to be understood, however, that this upsetting or enlarging of the spoke is foreign to the substance of the present invention, which contemplates the use of a relatively-large spoke and the modification of the mortise thereby. The essence of the invention in this regard lies in the provision of a roughened surface of such character that when an iron or steel spoke is forcibly introduced a firm and intimate contact will be established between the surfaces of the mortise and the spoke in consequence of the surface being broken down or modified by the spoke.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The metal hub having spoke-receiving mortises, the inner surfaces of which are formed, substantially as described and shown, with small ribs or irregularities of feeble strength or power of resistance, whereby said surfaces are adapted to be broken down or modified in form by the action of an ingoing metal spoke.

2. The cast-metal wheel-hub having the mortised spoke-receiving necks with longi- EDWARD P. LYNCH.

Witnesses:

FRED A. LEWIS, RAY T. LEWIS. 

